Alright, it's Saturday and I'm a bit drunk, so forgive my rambling - but I think it is a nifty idea.

But as I was walking to my game today, I was wondering, in relation to my recent desire to try out all those fine retroclones - would New Testament perhaps not make actually a pretty awesome setting for a great fantasy epic, if you just throw some dark fantasy bits into it?

I mean, let's think about it - you have a story of a boy with divine background, who is born as a messiah that shall lead the humanity in fight against darkness, and ultimately sacrifice himself to absorb humanity's sins. The country where the game takes place is occupied by forces of elven heathens, who worship the Daemonic Overlords, which grant them terrible arcane powers, but at the costs of their souls. The Messiah recruits the adventuring party (apostles), hells - he recruits them from various classes. You can have thieves (toll - gatherers), fighters, rangers (the Fishermen), etc. etc. The party has various adventures - for example, 40 days of fasting in the desert? Can convert that to a 40 days long trip into ancient ruins in the desert, where the sword needed to slay the Daemonic Overlord is hidden - and of course, during the search for the sword, the party not only faces the daemons, but the Messiah character faces temptations of the Daemonic Overlord. And ultimately, after the Daemonic Overlord is defeated, the final sacrifice is asked at the victory feast - one of the Cleric's closest allies is tasked in betraying him to the Elven Empire (Romans), so that gates of paradise may once again be open to all  that dwell upon the realm, purging it of darkness.

How does that sound? Add into the mix a good dose of Howard's Hyperborea and Leiber's Lankhmaar, and I think I can make a pretty nifty campaign out of this.

My friend ran a campaign based on the gospels but set in forgotten realms. Forget the specifics but it was a lot of fun, though things ended poorly for the messiah.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;505054My friend ran a campaign based on the gospels but set in forgotten realms. Forget the specifics but it was a lot of fun, though things ended poorly for the messiah.

I actually devised a small trick to remove the "plot immunity" of Messiah character.

If he dies, it means that he simply was not meant to be the Messiah. Story fastforwards 50 years into the future - all surviving characters roll Constitution if they are still alive (if they are human), and it begins with them setting off to discover the new Messiah and protect him from incoming danger. Of course, by that time, the world has settled even more into darkness.

And it goes on and on and on, until they finally succeed - or there's no more world to save.

Have you ever played Testament Rincewind?

Nope. What's that?

And yeah, I expect this idea was done before (LotR is a biiiit like this, in a way). Just thought someone may benefit from it as well - an inspiration for RPGs in most unlikely of sources. I tend to find useful snippets in most odd of works.

Quote from: Rincewind1;505063Nope. What's that?

It is a biblical d20 RPG, I think Green Ronin made it. A buddy of mine had the book and I was telling me about it when it came up. We never got a chance to play it though.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;505066It is a biblical d20 RPG, I think Green Ronin made it. A buddy of mine had the book and I was telling me about it when it came up. We never got a chance to play it though.

Hm. Well, I thought of more using the Bible as a sort of inspiration for the main story, rather then it's setting - except maybe the Middle East, as it's just a great setting for RPG, with the cities around the coast, and great ruins of decadent Babylons in the deserts.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;505066It is a biblical d20 RPG, I think Green Ronin made it. A buddy of mine had the book and I was telling me about it when it came up. We never got a chance to play it though.

Testament is pretty cool, but it doesn't cover the New Testament at all; it's strictly Old Testament material.

Sounds "edgy".

Quote from: two_fishes;505078Sounds "edgy".

I don't think it was intended to be edgy (if you are referring to testament). My friend got the book because he is a Christian and thought it would be fun to role play in a biblical campaign. I haven't read the rules, but I assume Testament was written with that audience and history buffs in mind.

The OP, I mean.

Hm. Maybe I should add a layer of Old Testament to the campaign - or play it out later, if players will like the setting. Some sort of a prequel, so to speak. OT is basically RPG session upon RPG session inspiration. And BB - I reckon he was taking swings at me. Oh, and now I am confirmed.

Two_fish - I guess that yes, taking on a classic story of messiah in a fantasy setting is edgy.

About as edgy as a frigging blunt stick. So was LotR also edgy to you, with it's story of a hobbit - messiah of Middle Earth? Or was Harry Potter too iconoclastic for you with it's clear messanismic themes as well?

Blergh. Anyways - so you say BB that something like this worked out in FR setting?

I think more campaigns could benefit from the use of allegory.

It does seem like for the allegory to work, though, you'd have to be fairly heavy-handed when laying the railroad tracks.  It wouldn't be that hard for players to completely sidestep the required events, intentionally or otherwise.

Quote from: daniel_ream;505111I think more campaigns could benefit from the use of allegory.

It does seem like for the allegory to work, though, you'd have to be fairly heavy-handed when laying the railroad tracks.  It wouldn't be that hard for players to completely sidestep the required events, intentionally or otherwise.

Well that's why I'll have to work to remove the railroads, right?

Obviously there will be quests - and obviously, there will be treason at the end. Or at least me asking the "Judas" to betray the Messiah - but it'll be player's choice. If he will be too weak and will not betray his comrade - pretty much entire campaign was a waste, as Evil will reign once more in due time.

And I think that fast - forwarding the time when Messiah character dies is a good idea, but correct me if I am wrong - it'll remove plot immunity from that player's character, and I actually always wanted to do this "50 years later) shift in my RPGs, and did not have an opportunity so far.

Plus I could use Prophet's campaign from NWN/Greek tragedy as inspiration here - raise a question if our (characters) actions matter, or are we but actors playing out our parts, and in such a case - do our actions are a virtue in itself, or are meaningless?

Damn, I am a bit psyched about this - it's been ages since I actually developed the world for my game. This OSR stuff is awesome.

So I guess I will ask for advice - how I can engage the players into such "epic" storyline, while removing the railroading? I have a decent idea how, but I am always open for advice.

Random thoughts:

Knowing which of the PCs is the 'messiah' will paint you into a corner, and I can't think of a good way to do it without bringing in all the attendant issues of making a campaign essentially 'about' one character.

Making the Romans Elves cheapens it for me a little, but does drive home the later "wait, you're preaching to the elves now, too?" parallel.